Sacrifice
by Klutzygirl33
Summary: Spoilers for "Mai Ka Wa Kahiko". Stan Edwards had no clue that he would do anything - even die - to save his stepdaughter until the situation arose.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own Hawaii Five-0 and never will. No copyright infringement intended.

**Author's Note**: I was really shocked by how Stan seemed to accept that he'd die for Grace, and that he was clearly willing to do it. I thought that was sweet, and said a lot about him. Thus, this fic was born. Enjoy!

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><p>Stan Edwards had no clue what had happened to his stepdaughter until a clearly distressed Danny Williams showed up and started waving a gun in front of his face. When he realized what Danny was supposed to do to save Grace, Stan didn't even have to think about it – He'd die for that little girl.<p>

When Danny fired the shot, Stan barely had time to register it before the pain hit. And it hurt like a son of a bitch, but he wasn't scared – He was going to die to save Grace – She was what mattered in this situation. Sure, he'd hate leaving her, Rachel, and the baby behind, but his death would be for a good cause. He barely even registered Danny shooting the grass instead of him and the next thing he knew, Rachel was over him, crying and putting pressure on the wound.

The next thing Stan knew, he was in the ambulance being poked and prodded. Rachel firmly squeezed his hand and refused to let go, something he was grateful for, and he mouthed "I love you" to his wife before slipping into unconsciousness.

"Stan, are you awake?" Rachel had been waiting impatiently for her husband to wake up for hours now, and she couldn't take it anymore.

He groaned but gave her an answer in the affirmative. "Is Grace okay?"

"She's fine, thanks to Steve and Danny. They're out with her in the waiting room now with the other members of the team." Rachel was torn between her husband and children, but luckily, neither was going anywhere for a while.

Stan sighed in relief. "That's good. Can you go get the kids? I want to see them."

"Of course I can!" Rachel leaned over and kissed her husband. She went to leave when Stan stopped her.

"Tell Steve and Danny to come in too. I want to talk to your ex-husband." He didn't know the whole story (And he'd get it out of Rachel or Danny eventually), but he had a feeling that his wife's ex was currently drowning in guilt over this.

"Don't you dare blame this on Daniel." Rachel was adamant in not blaming him – Yes, it was Danny's ex-partner that he had helped put away, but this still wasn't his fault. She'd make sure he'd know that or else Danny would sink into his despair.

"I'm not planning on it, Rach. Just go get them." He smiled at Rachel and then urged her out of the room. He yawned and waited – Luckily, he didn't have to for very long.

"Hi, Step Stan!" Grace ran up to his hospital bed, but stayed back at the last second, worried she'd hurt him.

"Hey, Gracie. How are you, sweetheart?"

She looked down at the floor when she answered. "Okay. But how are you? You got shot!" She was planning on making sure that her stepfather was well taken care of when he returned from the hospital.

"I'm okay. I'll be back to normal in no time. I'm glad you're okay, though. I was worried." He beamed at her and Grace grinned back.

"Stan, I am so sorry." Danny couldn't hold his guilt in anymore – Stan was innocent in all of this and he had been caught up in this fucked up situation because of him. He'd never forgive himself for Grace's kidnapping.

"Danny? Don't worry about it – The morphine's kicked in and I don't feel a fu… freaking thing right now." That eased the tension in the room as everyone laughed.

"Stan, you have to know that I didn't want to shoot you – Rick had Grace and he told me that the only way I could get her back was if I killed you." Danny was aware he was rambling, but didn't really care.

Stan rolled his eyes at him. "I told you not worry about it – I forgive you. And it would have been for Grace – I'd die for her. There's no question about it. So stop blaming yourself. Just buy me a cup of coffee when I get out of here."

"Deal." Danny was still going to apologize about a million times more, but he wasn't about to tell Stan that since he wasn't accepting his apologies. He'd make it up to his wife's husband somehow.

"Now, where's my little guy?" Stan grinned as Rachel held their son up to him and started babbling at the newborn. He was glad that the baby was still too young to understand today's events.

About ten minutes later, a nurse came in and ushered everyone out of the room, Rachel included. "I love you."

"I love you, too. And Steve, come here a minute please?" Stan wanted to talk to Danny's partner about something important before he didn't see him again.

Steve looked confused, but stayed back as everyone else left. "What's going on?"

"Danny's going to need you – I can tell he's pretty close to falling apart. Be there for him, will you?" He knew that Steve wouldn't let anything happen to Danny – They were practically inseparable. And they were good for each other, not that Stan would ever tell them that.

He smiled. "Yeah, I will. I wasn't planning on leaving him alone. I think he's staying at your house tonight."

"Good. Now go because I'm really fucking close to passing out." Stan closed his eyes as Steve laughed and quietly exited the room. He had nightmares about the shooting and something happening to Grace, so it wasn't a good sleep, even with the morphine. The nurses also kept coming in to check on him, and it was just a bad night all around.

Rachel returned the next morning with Grace in tow – She had refused to leave Danny, Rachel, or Steve's sides since being saved, and since Danny and Steve had gone into work, Grace was attached to Rachel. The baby was staying with the nanny, so Rachel didn't plan to be at the hospital for very long. "I made you a drawing." Grace handed the picture over to her stepfather.

"Thank you, Gracie. I love it. Come over here." He urged her to come closer.

"What's wrong, Step Stan? Are you okay? Do you need me to get a nurse?" Grace was clearly panicked and definitely would be for a long time.

Stan looked up at his wife, who shrugged – Grace was traumatized and probably going to be starting therapy once everything died down. "I'm fine, sweetheart. I just wanted to tell you that I love you." And he meant it – Stan had never realized the depth of his feelings for her before, but he did mean it. He wasn't about to let anything happen to Grace ever again – She was going to have a very overprotective stepfather. (Along with an extremely overprotective father and uncle, of course.)

"I love you, too." She had always loved her Step Stan, and having badgered the story out of her Uncle Steve, she was grateful that he had gotten shot to save her. Grace just didn't understand that feeling yet, however.

It was going to take the Williams-Edwards (and Hawaii Five-0) family a long time to recover from the events of the past few days. Rick had ended up traumatizing everyone, not just Grace.

Stan Edwards had learned something valuable – That Grace meant a lot to him, and that he would always be there for her. He'd protect her for as long as he could.

Something good had actually come out of Grace's kidnapping.


End file.
